Investors have made higher returns a key priority, pressing oil and gas drillers to boost buybacks and dividends instead of growing production at a time when commodity pricing remains volatile. ConocoPhillips said in November it would boost its oil and gas production by about 3% per year, restrain annual spending to about $7 billion and return $50 billion to shareholders over the next decade. On a per share basis, it earned 76 cents, while analysts had expected a profit of 80 cents, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. …read more
Source:: Yahoo Finance
